


Just us

by parkersoda



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Battle of Hogwarts, Death in the first chapter, F/M, Fred Weasley Dies, Fuck JKR, Grief/Mourning, Post-Battle of Hogwarts, The Burrow (Harry Potter), Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, oc is the reader but also still kinda an oc, reader and george help each other grieve, very sorry
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-09
Updated: 2020-10-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:14:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,302
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26372518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/parkersoda/pseuds/parkersoda
Summary: she was in love with fred weasley. everything was perfect, until may 2, 1998.the love of her life has died, her sister has died. no one could understand her pain; save one.
Relationships: Fred Weasley/Original Female Character(s), Fred Weasley/Reader, George Weasley/Original Female Character(s), George Weasley/Reader
Comments: 3
Kudos: 19





	1. ch1

**Author's Note:**

> Main OC: Aurora "Rory" Orlandi  
> born: 27th July 1978, London  
> Hogwarts house: Slytherin
> 
> OC's twin: Edith "Eddie" Orlandi  
> born: 27th July 1978, London  
> Hogwarts house: Ravenclaw
> 
> OC's mom: Veronica Orlandi (maiden name: Bucket)  
> born: 1958, Kettering  
> Hogwarts house: Ravenclaw
> 
> OC's dad: Benito Orlandi  
> born: 1957, Italy  
> attended Beauxbatons
> 
> *this story is also on my wattpad under the same username*

2nd May 1998  
4:50am

~~~~~~~~~~~~

The battle had been waging for hours, but it had felt like days in Rory's mind. She couldn't stop moving, couldn't stop fighting, she simply wouldn't allow it. Every curse blocked and deflected, every death eater disarmed and dealt with was a step closer to ending this war and keeping her family safe. 

Her parents, her sister Eddie, Eddie's boyfriend George, the rest of the Weasley clan and him. Fred Weasley, her fiancé, whom she planned on marrying in the coming months, if she could just survive this bloody war.

Fred had stayed close by throughout those grueling hours, to which Rory was grateful. He had always felt like home, always boosted her confidence and most importantly he kept reminding her what she was fighting for; their future. Every flash of red hair in her peripherals, every victorious laugh, every hand lightly gracing her waist as he passed would bring a warmth to her chest. There was no fretting over where he was and if he was okay when he was ten feet away from her.

The battle was nearly over, or at least it had seemed like it. There were fewer people running at them. There seemed to be less people in general. 

Rory could hear Fred laughing behind her,

"You're joking Perce!"

A smile played at her lips, happy that after years of fighting Fred and Percy could finally have the relationship they should have always had. She looked over to see the two Weasleys still giggling over whatever joke Percy had made. 

"You actually are joking, Perce... I don't think I've heard you joke since you were-" Then it happened.

An explosion.

It knocked the three of them back. It took a moment for her to get her bearings.

"RORY!" she heard Percy call for her. The panic in his voice sent a cold shiver through her body. Fred was lying there, unmoving. No, this can't be happening. She rushed over as quickly as she could. He had died with a laugh still on his lips, frozen in time.

Her vision became blurry with tears as she sat over him. She wanted to cry out, but she couldn't seem to find her voice. Nothing could describe the dread that was quickly taking over her.

Just then a voice rang throughout the castle,

"You have fought valiantly, but in vain."

Rory covered her ears in a wasted attempt to muffle Voldemort's booming voice; not exactly the person she would like to hear from in this moment.

"I do not wish this. Every drop of magical blood spilt is a terrible waste."

She couldn't help but look down at Fred, she could only hope and pray that his sacrifice was not for nothing. The thought of it made her eyes water even more, tears finally beginning to stream down her face.

"I, therefore, command my forces to retreat. In their absence, dispose of your dead with dignity."

"We have to get him to the Great Hall." Percy said, frantically. Rory could only nod in agreement, as tears continued to wet her face. She couldn't fully process this, not yet. How was she going to live without him? How was George going to live without him? Or Molly? Eddie? Any of them? Fred and George were beams of sunlight in this dark world, without Fred, would George's light fade? All their lives had changed in the matter of an instant, and in that moment only Rory and Percy carried the weight of that burden. 

They slowly began lifting Fred's lifeless body. No words were exchanged between the two of them as they struggled to carry Fred down the corridor. The only sounds to be heard from them were choked sobs and hiccups, while they attempted to control their sobs.

As they slowly made their way into the Great Hall, most of the Weasleys were already there. Arthur immediately came running towards them. Rory couldn't hear the words he spoke to her as he took Fred's legs from her grasp. She couldn't stop herself from collapsing on the floor, crying, as soon as she let go of him. Molly quickly came over to help her up and walked her over in front of the cot they had laid Fred's body on. Everyone around them was crying and hugging.

"George," Ginny realized, "someone needs to go get him." 

"I will." said Rory. It was the first time she had spoken since the explosion. She felt like she owed it to George to tell him. The four of them had been inseparable since first meeting on the Hogwarts Express first year. It wasn't often that two set of identical twins were starting their journey at Hogwarts the same year, and when one of those sets are Fred and George Weasley, they are going to insist on being the best of friends. 

"Are you sure, darling?" Molly asked, concerned.

"Yes, I'll go find him." Rory tried to smile assuringly. "Everyone needs you here." 

She slowly started the trek to the last place she had known George to be. What would she tell him? What could she tell him? Her mind began to race with these questions and more as she tried to form some semblance of an explanation.

She would bring him possibly the single worst news of his life; everything would change for him, for the three of us, for our families. George was currently living in blissful ignorance of this tragedy and Rory hated to be the one to shatter that reality. 

Perhaps she should've waited for Eddie, she would've known how to handle this. Eddie was always receptive of other's feelings and always knew what to say and when to say it. It's one of the reasons Eddie and George are so good together. They have always kept Fred and Rory in check, making sure they never go too far, get too angry, and if they had, they always knew how to pick up the pieces.

This made Rory hesitate, she began contemplating whether she should go back and find Eddie before finding George. No, she was just stalling. She had to find George and quickly, she didn't want him hearing this news from someone who wasn't a friend or family. If she was lucky, she might find George and Eddie together, but it seemed that all her luck had run out when that wall had been blown to pieces.

"Rory!" she heard from behind her.

Rory turned around and there he was, the near spitting image of Fred. If she hadn't known better she might've thought she was having some sort of mental break, or perhaps seeing Fred's ghost. Yet, after nearly a decade of spending every day possible with the two, Rory had no problem spotting the difference. The purple jumper and missing ear also helped. 

George jogged to meet up with her and pulled her into a bear hug; likely exhausted and relieved to see someone in the family has survived. Rory hugged him with the same amount of force, but for different reasons. She started crying again, she couldn't help it. It was all too much and seeing George made it nearly too much to bear, and she was about to burden one of her best friends with all of it.

George was the first to pull away with some resemblance of a smile on his face, eager to find the rest of his family and make sure they were okay, it had been a long night.

"Rory, you wouldn't believe what hap-" He stopped himself when he noticed that Rory had been crying and was avoiding looking at him. "Rory? What's wrong?"

She couldn't look at him; the guilt was beginning to eat at her, it should've been her, perhaps she could've saved him in some way if she had turned around sooner. She began to worry that George would blame her for it. He had never been unreasonable in that way, but he had always had Fred, and now he doesn't. Her eyesight became blurry again as she began to tear up again. She chose to focus on the destroyed painting on the floor near them rather than the ginger man that was looking at her expectantly, she knew if she looked at him she'd break again. George was having none of this and grabbed her face as a last ditch effort to make her look at him. 

"Rory. Please, what happened?" George was nearly begging.

"Fred" was all she could muster.

His face fell instantly. His eyes beginning to brim with tears.

"Where?"

"The Great Hall."

George took off in that direction, but not before grabbing Rory's hand to drag her there with him. He knew her too well. He knew she'd stay there alone and he wasn't going to leave her. They both needed to be with their family right now.

They seemed to make it back to the Great Hall in record time. George holding her hand the whole way, only to let go as they approached the Weasleys. Rory noticed her parents had joined them and were standing in front of something. Someone. Someone laid next to Fred. Rory froze in terror as she got closer to see.

It was Eddie.

She could hear George's screams, Molly trying her best to console him and her parents pulling her into their embrace as she entered yet another state of shock.

She wasn't strong enough for this. She had lost so much in such little time. She couldn't even begin to process this. She felt like a shell of a person. Fred was her soulmate, the love of her life and Eddie, her best friend, her twin. What was left of a person when they've lost both of their other halves? 

Rory vaguely remembered her parents leading her in front of their bodies, standing there with a never ending river of tears that she didn't make any effort to wipe away. She heard Harry, Ron and Hermione walk in the Great Hall, but couldn't find the strength to look up and greet them.

George lifted himself off the ground to hug Ron. As Ron sobbed over Fred's body, George turned to Rory. His embrace shook her from her daze. After a moments hesitation, Rory returned the hug, wrapping her arms tightly around his torso as a way of anchoring herself.

"I suppose it's just the two of us now." George whimpered into her hair.

Rory held him tighter as she tucked her face deeper into his chest to hide the new wave of tears falling down to her chin.

"Just us."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if this is too long and terrible. It's my first time writing fanfic and only my third time really posting a story on any site (and the other two were shit bc i was 13).  
> Also, I wanted to point out that I will be avoiding putting too much description in the appearance of Rory (and by default Eddie) since they are more of self insert characters rather than true OCs. I only gave them a name, a nickname, a house and a birthday. I know it's a huge problem with many OCs being written as tiny blonde haired blue eyed white girls and I didn't want anyone reading this to not feel represented. Rory and Eddie can be whoever you, the reader, want them to be. Any race, any body type/height, have any hair/eye color and anything else you can think of it is up to you. I wouldn't someone to read a story I wrote with a self insert character and have that character not be accommodating.  
> Thanks again for reading. Let me know what y'all think and if I should continue or if this is a lost cause lol.


	2. ch2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry and Voldemort have a final face off, plus some..

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finally got around to completing ch2 :') hope y'all enjoy <3

2nd May 1998  
5:45am

Voldemort and his army marched across the Hogwarts bridge. Rory could see that horrid woman, Bellatrix Lestrange, dancing her way around Hagrid. As they got closer she realized that Hagrid was carrying someone. It was easy to assume who it was, but she could not bring herself to think of it.

The survivors were all making their way out of the Great Hall and into the courtyard to meet the Dark Lord. Rory held onto George's arm in an attempt to feel some sort of comfort and security.

The Death Eaters excited voices easily overpowered the silence and gloomy footsteps of the last defenders of Hogwarts.

"Stop." Voldemort halted his followers. It became clear to everyone who Hagrid was carrying.

"NO!" McGonagall cried, followed by many varying cries of mourning and despair from those closest to Harry and those who only knew him as a beacon of hope and light in these dark times. Rory choked back her sobs as she buried her face into George's back, unable to look at the scene before her.

"SILENCE!" Voldemort's voice boomed over the cries. "It is over. You see? Harry Potter is dead! Do you see now deluded ones? He was nothing, ever, but a boy who relied on others to sacrifice themselves for him."

Rory couldn't help but look back into the Great Hall where, just mere hours ago, two people, who she loved more than anything, laid dead. "Could it truly have been for nothing?" she thought to herself.

She could hardly hear Neville confronting the Dark Lord, proving his own bravery, while she wallowed in the pits of her own despair. George tightly gripped the hand she still had on his arm, bringing her attention to what was happening before them.

Voldemort was torturing Neville, but not for long. Within seconds Voldemort's victory fell apart. All at once, Harry disappeared, Neville managed to break free, pull the sword of Gryffindor out of the sorting hat and kill Voldemort's snake and destroy the final Horcrux. A sense of joy and relief rushed over Rory, one that she hadn't thought she would ever feel again, but she knew it wasn't over; not yet.

George turned to her with this certain spark in his eyes. She knew that look, but wasn't one that had ever been directed at her. It was a look that was almost exclusively given to Fred when they had some mischievous epiphany or something that they would've deemed "wicked" had happened. He had instinctually turned to look for Fred to share his amazement in the events unfolding before him, but instead he was faced with Fred's almost-widow.

The spark in his eyes disappeared in an instant, but he still gave her a hopeful smile. No words needed to be spoken in that moment. Nor could they as the Death Eaters had begun their second attack; matters of the heart could be resolved later.

The ensuing battle was a blur. Rory assured she did not stray far from George, keeping an even closer eye on him than she had on Fred, she couldn't relive the same incident and be truly alone this time. It was chaos in the Great Hall. House elves, trolls, hippogriffs, young and old wizards alike all fighting for the greater good of their world.

Rory, George and Lee Jordan had just managed to take down Yaxley when Bellatrix Lestrange's voice rang out over all the ruckus.

"What will happen to your children when I've killed you? When mummy's gone the same way as Freddie?" she said with a devious smirk.

Rory watched as Mrs. Weasley and Bellatrix dueled, nearly struck frozen by the mere mention of Fred's death. She wanted nothing more than to help the woman who had been like a second mother to her; she felt helpless, but Mrs. Weasley was refusing any assistance.

"You - will - never - touch - my - children - again!" Mrs. Weasley shouted as she sent a curse towards Bellatrix, hitting her in her chest and defeating her once and for all. The crowd around them cheered and Rory was pulled into a crippling hug by Lee as he screamed and jumped. George shook them and pointed towards the center of the Great Hall.

Harry had suddenly reappeared and was challenging Voldemort to a duel; just them, no one else. Once again, they could do nothing but watch as their future hung in the balance. Even the Death Eaters ceased their attacks to watch this duel of fates.

The entire hall was on edge as Harry and Voldemort argued. The air was thick with tension and everyone seemed to be holding their breath. Rory almost didn't notice George inching closer to her until he lightly took hold of her hand. They looked at each other for a moment. Rory silently wondered how selfish it would be to disapparate out of there with him before things turned sour again. Of course, she knew this was impossible, it was cowardly and more selfish than she would ever admit, but she was scared.

A loud bang pulled her out of her inner monologue. Voldemort's wand was in the air and the Dark Lord was falling backwards towards the ground, dead; his killing curse had rebounded. It was over.

There was a breath of silence, then the Great Hall roared with cheers, cries and screams of joy. George picked up Rory and spun her around before pulling her to join the crowd of people hugging Harry.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

9:13am

Rory laid her head on her mother's shoulder, silently taking in her surroundings and drowning out her parents and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley's current conversation. A mixture of joy and loss filled the Great Hall.

Rory fought with herself with the strange mixture of thoughts and feelings clouding her mind. On one hand, she was relieved, happy even. Voldemort was gone, defeated and dead (completely this time). Her friends and family would no longer have to live in fear and peace would be restored to the wizarding world.

And yet, in the process, there had been so much loss. The feeling of dread and despair dared to take over what was supposed to be a happy moment. Then she felt the guilt that had been hiding in the shadows of her mind and heart.

Fred and Eddie were gone forever; lost not even 24 hours before. She felt so selfish. How could she bask in any form of happiness without them there. It should have been them sitting here and she would've given anything to trade places with them.

She felt a pull to look over at George in that moment. How was he handling the mix of emotions everyone was feeling? This was the farthest and longest they had been separated since he had found her wandering the halls. He was gathered around the rest of the Weasley clan, joking with Percy. A sight, Rory knew, would take some getting used to.

George seemed to be handling everything much better than she had, at least in the present moment. She wished she could be as strong as him. She wished even more that she could go over there and joke with them, but she knew she would only put a damper on their moods. Rory was sure they were feeling many of the same things she had over losing Fred and Eddie, only they had the love and support of their other siblings to distract them from their sorrow. On the other hand, Rory for the first time in 19 years, since she was 7 minutes old, she was an only child.

She watched them longingly only for a few minutes more before George met eyes with her. They shared another sad smile between them and went back to their own conversations.

The gathering stayed like that for another hour or so more. Some people had gone home, others had nothing to return to. Rory didn't know how or when, but suddenly there were people walking around with large dinner plates filled with food. McGonagall had maneuvered a couple house tables for everyone to sit at and suddenly the gathering turned into some kind of impromptu feast.

The Orlandis and the Weasleys sat together, as per usual. Rory noticed her had sat near Fleur, they had bonded at her and Bill's wedding over their shared alma mater and were currently speaking very quickly in French. Her mother and Mrs. Weasley were considering the extent of damage Hogwarts had obtained during the battle and the extensive cleaning and repairs that needed to be done to return the school to its former glory ("Veronica, I say after we're all finished eating we should offer Minerva our services." "I was thinking the same thing!"). Mr. Weasley sitting opposite to them, speaking to Hermione about some muggle foods he had heard of while she, Ron and Harry had been gone searching for horcruxes ("Mr. Weasley, I can assure you hot dogs are not made with actual dog meet. I don't actually know why they are called that, it's just a sausage in a bun."). Ron was sitting next to Hermione, shyly holding her hand under the table ("Finally." Rory thought to herself) while he spoke to Charlie about his dragons back in Romania. Next to them were Harry and Ginny across from Percy and Bill, they all seemed immersed in some story Rory couldn't quite hear over all the noise in the hall. She did notice Percy's face becoming so red it nearly matched the colour of his hair (perhaps this was because Ginny had pointed out that Percy's ex Penelope was sitting just behind them at the next table). Then George cleared his throat.

"Is this seat taken?" he asked, somewhat nervously.

"Even if it was, I'd still let you take it." Rory said with a smile. George matched it as he sat down and began to fill his plate.

"You looked like you could use some company and as always I am obliged to help a lady in need."

Rory couldn't help but chuckle as she rolled her eyes. "Well, thank you good sir from saving me from my lonesome prison." she said sarcastically, though truth be told she was glad he was there.

"You can always count on me." he said with a wink.

"By any chance, do you know where all this food came from? Surely the house elves didn't have time to make all of this."

" I didn't see who first started bringing food out," George said with a mouth full of chicken. "I did see some of the villagers from Hogsmeade bring up some food from the village and I saw Madam Rosmerta bringing up some shepherd's pies with Hagrid. Hagrid was the one who carried all the barrels of butterbeer up, it seems like he got one all to himself." Rory looked over towards where George had pointed and sure enough Hagrid was sitting at the end of the table laughing along with the rest of the Hogwarts staff and his own personal barrel of butterbeer.

"It just seems like so much food for them to have had just lying around ready for a feast." she said in slight disbelief.

George shrugged. " I don't know. Maybe it was a Hogwarts dinner that the house elves had preprepared and warmed up plus whatever the villagers brought."

"Perhaps." Rory said digging into her own slice of shepherd's pie.

"Whoever it was, I'm grateful for it." George said, once again with his mouth full of food. "I was starving." They both giggled before settling into a comfortable silence.

George was nearly finished with his second helping of pudding when he finally broke the silence.

"Are you planning on going back to the flat tonight?"

The question took Rory by surprise. Despite all of the things that had rushed through her mind since the explosion, the flat her, Eddie, Fred and George had shared these past two years was not one of them. She had completely overlooked where she might be sleeping tonight (if she slept at all).

"I- I don't know. Why?"

"Well- I think I want to go stay at the burrow, with mum and everyone. At least until" he paused for a moment, looking away from her and down at his plate "at least until the funeral. Maybe longer, depending on the state I'm in. When all this starts to feel real." Rory could tell this was becoming difficult for him to talk about, despite how hard he was attempting to hold it all together. "I just wanted to make sure it was okay with you." he said quickly, glancing at her before looking back at his plate.

"George," she said, putting her hand on his shoulder, squeezing and struggling to keep her own tears from falling down her face. "you do whatever you need to do to be okay, you don't have to worry about me."

The look on George's looked as if her suggestion had insulted him and his entire bloodline.

"How could I not worry about you, Rory?" he said, looking at her with watery eyes and sounding slightly exasperated. "You're my best mate, if anyone understands exactly how I feel, it's you, Rory. I can't leave you alone right now."

"George-"

"Would you?"

"Sorry?"

"If I told you not to worry about me, would you do it?"

Rory knew he knew the answer to that question, but she had a feeling he wanted her to say it out loud so she couldn't try to deny it in hopes he'd stop worrying. He knew her too well.

"You know I wouldn't, Georgie."

"Alright, that's settled then." he said turning back to his pudding.

"What exactly is settled?" Rory said, more confused than before.

"You'll come stay with at the burrow with me, with everyone." he said very matter-of-factly.

"George- my parents, shouldn't I stay with them?"

He laughed. "Rory, you really don't listen to our mother's conversations, do you?"

"...No?"

He sighed. "Your parents are staying at the burrow too, YOUR mum is helping MY mum with planning the funeral and in their spare time coming to back here to try and give Professor McGonagall another hand with fixing Hogwarts. Bill and Fleur decided to come stay too, and Charlie, and-"

Rory couldn't help but interrupt him. "There's no way we are all going to fit in that house."

He gave her a look as if she hadn't been listening hard enough. "Dad said he still had one of those tents we used at the Quidditch World Cup couple years ago. I reckon that's where your parents, and Bill, Fleur and Charlie are staying. Percy has his old room, I have mine and Fred's, Ron and Ginny have their own and the rest of you lot will spread out through the rooms." he said with a small smile.

Rory was a bit taken aback. They had this all planned out, she wanted to argue that it was too much, but after all these years, she knew better than argue with a Weasley. Especially, when the whole lot of them have decided to take care of you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writing this felt like a bit of a rollercoaster tbh, bc shes happy but shes sad but shes happy but shes also sad. Basically dont leave Rory alone with her thoughts or shes gonna spiral. Also, I couldn't help but add the part from the movies where George looks back to tell Fred about Harry, it makes me cry every time. srry not srry :')


End file.
